Re: [Paddlewise] High bracing and elbows

Scott said:
<snip>
 <<<Once you understand how it works then you will see that it is really
not necessary to be extending your arm away from your body. Whether you
lock your elbows against your body or simply hold them close to the body
I think is a matter of personal preference. What you do not want to be
doing is straightening out your bracing arm, and you absolutely should
never get your elbow anywhere even approaching above your shoulder>>>

Good advice Scott, as usual when it comes to surf yaking. I'll ring the
bells of affirmation here. Generally, I try myself to maintain the above
paradigm, but occasionally I do need to poke my blade into a
higher-than-I-like position. While I do have strong shoulders, what I
always avoid with the arm in an extended position -- which is rare --
and allowing it to rotate back above the head, as _that_ is the most
likely time for a dislocation. An appropriate time where I'd employ a
cautious extention would be back surfing where I have good distal
positioning of the blade above the bow, that allows a fudge factor
before the arm goes perpendicular (the dislocation provocation point).

Dislocations, once they occur, make it very difficult if not impossible
to regain the former strength that helped prevent less forcefully caused
dislocations. Best to avoid all injury in the first place. So keep 'dem
elbows bent and close to yur bod  -- and yur love bud (ie - someone you
love).

Hey Scott, checked out the surfer-girl movie "Blue Crush" yet? Way cool.

Doug (PS, I incorrectly reported in that post about the incident off
Victoria that a top paddler was present. I had my information mixed up.
The paddlers were all fairly average in ability - IMHO).

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